Wortham World of Primates

Located in the heart of the Zoo, Wortham World of Primates offers up close viewing of some of the world’s most fascinating and intelligent creatures.  Nestled in a naturalistic setting, Wortham World’s boardwalks and tree houses allow visitors to observe the behavior of a wide variety of threatened and endangered primates including mandrills, lemurs, an agile gibbon, red capped mangabeys, siamangs, patas monkeys, cotton top and golden lion tamarins, howler monkeys, and Sumatran and Bornean orangutans.   

The Primate section is a diverse one, exhibiting prosimians, new world and old world monkeys, and lesser and great apes. Concentrating heavily on comprehensive environmental enrichment of the entire collection, according to the needs and behavior of each species, training is a large component of the daily routine. Training also helps the veterinarians in examining many of the monkeys and apes; all of the great apes are trained to present their arm for a syringe, their ear for a thermometer, and their chest for a stethoscope. Illustrating the concept of an ecosystem for Zoo visitors and providing additional enrichment for the animals, we have a number of mixed species exhibits.

Many of our primates are very long-lived. We have a 35-year-old agile gibbon, Susie, and a 36-year-old orangutan, Cheyenne, who is well-known as a surrogate mother to three orangutan youngsters, one Bornean and two Sumatran. From golden lion tamarins to orangutans, the primate section is home to many of the world’s most endangered species, exhibited in lush tropical settings. Come and visit!